The Dawn of Redeeming Grace
by Kiseki-no-neko
Summary: Ryan had quickly decided that the one good thing about growing up away from humans was that he had managed to avoid irritating Christmas songs for a good fifteen years. -Oneshot- -Gift fic- -Mitchell siblings centric, NOT incest- -JoelxFairweather-


The Dawn of Redeeming Grace

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Disclaimer: Power Rangers isn't mine, nor is the title of this fic, which I shamelessly stole from the song "Silent Night", hey, it's fitting!

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By: Bunny-chan

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Author's Notes

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This was written for **terrierlee** for the LJ community **funhappyprfic**, there's amazing fics there, everybody should go check 'em out! She requested many great things, one of those being Christmas at the Aquabase, with Joel/Ms. Fairweather fluff, I was only too happy to oblige. Sadly, it got quickly out of my control, the Mitchell siblings demanded to take over, especially Ryan, and it became all about his damn issues and Dana comforting him. Then Dana had to be sneaky with her "great plans" and Ryan decided to keep quiet for the sake of his life. Fun times, fun times. Hope y'all enjoy it! On a side note, anybody wanna be my beta for my precious PR fics? I shall give you cookies! And you get to see my fics before anybody else! What more could you want? Contact me if you're at all interested, and we shall work something out.

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Ryan had quickly decided that the one good thing about growing up away from humans was that he had managed to avoid irritating Christmas songs for a good fifteen years. He couldn't figure out the purpose of playing every single song related to the holiday on loop around December, hell, he had heard the first song before November had even started. People were running around, buying food, and trees, and decorations, and he couldn't figure out what the point of it all was. But the biggest thing he didn't understand was why he had allowed his little sister to drag him Christmas shopping.

As it stood, they were currently picking out a Christmas tree that Dana demanded they have. He felt like he should be decked out in a heavy coat, boots, and all the bells and whistles, huddling around himself to keep warmer as snow fell around him, complaining to Dana that there wasn't anything wrong with the tree he picked. But they _did_ live in southern California, snow wasn't exactly an option, if they lived up in the mountains, things would be different. He had very vague memories of trips up to the mountains to visit their grandmother, always during winter, so they could experience snow, they generally returned to Mariner Bay before Christmas though, being away from his work for too long made Captain Mitchell antsy.

Carter and Joel had accompanied the Mitchell siblings in their quest for tree hunting, while Chad and Kelsey stayed behind at the Aquabase to find the perfect spot to place the tree. The three men had split up per Dana's instructions, each looking for a tree, while the Pink Ranger grumbled at them, Joel's tree was too short, while Carter's was too tall. It simultaneously made Ryan amused and a little frightened, as he pushed himself off of the trunk of the tree he was leaning against. Man, being chewed out by Dana was definitely not fun, so he hoped his choice of tree was up to snuff. Frankly, he didn't really care about the stupid tradition, what was the point of chopping down a whole bunch of trees that you'd only use for one month anyway? There were a lot of traditions he didn't understand, nor remember, having only had a handful of holidays before he had been taken away by Diabolico.

He blinked himself out of his thoughts as Dana came to stand in front of him, examining his tree critically. He unconsciously straightened his spine, strangely feeling like Dana's examination of the tree was an extension of himself, which made no sense, really. After what felt like hours, in which Ryan grew antsy, a smile bloomed over Dana's face, and she turned her attention to her brother, throwing her arms around his neck. He tensed slightly, even after months of being back in Mariner Bay, learning to reconnect with his family, being a part of a team, he still wasn't completely used to hugs. When she didn't let go immediately, he finally gave into the feeling of her, of her love, returning her hug. When she pulled back, her smile was as bright as the sun, and he raised an eyebrow, "Not that I'm complaining, but what was with that?"

"The tree, Ryan! It's perfect, it's not too tall, or too short, the branches are even, it's great."

A smile that matched her own spread across his lips, "Good, so we can go back to the Aquabase now?"

"Wow, don't sound so eager there."

He shrugged, "I just don't get the point of all…" he waved his hand in the general indication of the trees and flocks of people, "this."

She shrugged her shoulders, "I promise I'll try my best to explain it when we get home, let's just get this tree out of here."

He'd settle for that, he supposed, it was better than nothing. When Dana stepped back, he reached down, wrapping an arm around the trunk of the tree and easily hoisting it up and onto his shoulder. He didn't notice the look on his sister's face until she made a noise that might have been like choking, and he turned his attention to her, raising an eyebrow at the expression on her face, "What's up, short-stuff?"

All she could manage to do was sputter and make flailing motions that vaguely reminded him of a seizure. Maybe she _was_ having a seizure. Oh shit, their dad was gonna _kill_ him if anything happened to Dana, he tried not to look or sound worried, no need to freak her out even further if she really was having a seizure, "You okay, Dana?"

Finally she burst out, "RYAN!"

He blinked, taking a step back in surprise, "Can I help you? You're not dying?"

She lurched forward, reaching out to grasp his shoulder, "No, I'm not dying! Are you crazy?"

"Um, not as far as I know, but it's possible you are."

She punched him in the shoulder, and he bit back a wince, goddamn, his sister could hit _hard_, "You don't just-just-"

"I don't just what?"

"You don't just pick up _a tree_!" She hissed in a quiet voice, glancing around to see if people noticed, thus far they hadn't, "Would you put that _down_ already?"

Okay, his sister was definitely a fucking weirdo, "Why would I put it down? I can carry it easily, y'know."

"And that's the problem, Ryan! A normal human doesn't just heft a tree over his shoulder!"

It was almost like he had been sucker punched in the stomach. A normal human didn't do such things. He wasn't _normal_, he probably never had been. He stumbled backwards, but she didn't notice, too busy calling the others, "Joel, Carter! Get over here!"

The two quickly came scampering, coming to a sudden stop when they reached Ryan, eyes big with awe, before Joel cleared his throat, speaking in a loud and obvious voice, "Hey, Ryan, I bet you need some help with that, right? Of course you do, because no way can one guy carry-"

He was cut off by Carter's elbow to his gut, and he made his way over to Ryan, grunting in his effort to raise the tree off of his comrade's shoulder, Joel, finally getting over the pain of Carter's elbow, rushing over to help, muttering how he shouldn't even bother because of how Carter abused him so much, "Just because you're the goddamn leader doesn't mean you can just run around elbowing everybody…"

Ryan kept silent, merely helping his teammates carry the tree to the Rescue Rover where they let it rest on the ground as Carter frowned over the predicament of fitting the tree into the humvee, "Now how are we going to do this…"

It was only then that he felt a small body pressed against his back, arms wrapping around his waist, "I'm sorry…" she whispered, words ghosting past his ears.

He sighed, something deep and bone weary, and he couldn't even be angry at her. He had spent so much of his life hating her, fifteen long goddamn years, and it _hurt_ to be angry at her ever again. But what she had said earlier had hurt too, it didn't matter that he knew she didn't mean it, not like that, but it still stung like a bitch. "Please don't be angry at me, I didn't mean to hurt you."

He gave a one shoulder shrug, "You didn't."

"I did, I know I did, I said normal people didn't do what you did, but I didn't mean that as an insult," she sighed, "I like you the way you are, Ryan, just who you are, you don't have to change for me or anyone else."

He let his head drop down, his chin falling to rest on his chest, "Yeah, I know." He whispered, and he _did_ know, he knew the tones and emotion in her voice, even after so short of a time, it was so damn easy to understand her. Her blood ran through his veins, it would be impossible not to get her.

She circled around to face him, placing her hands on his chest, looking up at him with big blue eyes, "Forgive me?"

He laughed, dropping a kiss to her forehead, "There's nothing to forgive, short-stuff."

Relief flooded her veins and eyes and the corners of her mouth twitched up into a smile, and she hugged him again. He smirked, returning the hug, and when she let go, he let his eyes rest on the guys, who had now moved on to arguing about the tree, "It's not going to fit that way, Joel."

"It _would_ if we just saw a little off the bottom."

"Then we could have just gotten a shorter tree if we were just going to do that."

"Well, why the hell didn't we?"

"Because Dana didn't _want_ a short tree?"

The woman in question merely shrugged, "A shorter tree would have looked all wrong."

Ryan just snorted, before making his way to the Rover, he couldn't see why they were freaking out, it was easy to see a solution. He, once again, picked up the tree, placing it in the Rescue Rover horizontally, across one line of seats. Joel blinked a few times, "Why didn't we think of that?"

"No idea." Carter replied.

"It's a good thing the Rover has so many seats, otherwise somebody would have to sit in somebody else's lap," Joel pointed out, before leering at Dana playfully, "of course, Dana would have to sit in my lap."

Dana raised an eyebrow, "And why would I have to sit in your lap?"

"Glad you asked. Ryan's your brother, and Carter always drives, so what else would you do? Walk?"

Dana merely rolled her eyes, "Like you said, it's a good thing we have so many seats, so I don't have to resort to sitting in your lap, but if we didn't have room, I'd rather sit on the tree."

Joel made a face as Carter disguised his snicker as a cough, while Ryan smirked, "Rejected again."

"Who asked you?" Joel grumbled, "Can we just go already?"

They all climbed into the Rover, Ryan making sure the tree wouldn't fall out as Carter drove, as they made their way back to the Aquabase.

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Dana had changed from her usual pink shirt and mini skirt to gray sweat pants and a t-shirt she had stolen from Ryan. So that was where his shirt had ended up, he idly pondered stealing it back, but decided against it. It was clear she liked it, and he had more than enough t-shirts anyway, after she had taken him on a shopping spree the day he had moved into the Aquabase. At the moment, she was currently making him extremely nervous, as she stood on a ladder, hanging up decorations. Despite how many times he voiced his worries, and offered to do it for her, she had refused to let him do it. So he had been relegated to holding the ladder so it wouldn't wobble, and she, hopefully, wouldn't fall.

She raised up on her tiptoes on the very top of the ladder to inch the tinsel garland up higher. His heart leapt to his throat at her precarious balance, but he knew mentioning it would just make her scoff at him. He breathed a sigh of relief when she finished, leaning back and swiping strands of pale blonde hair that had escaped from her messy bun behind her ears. "There," she stated in satisfaction, smiling brightly, "okay, Ryan, hand me the mistletoe, would you?"

He peered down at the box of decorations that rested on a table at his side. There were a multitude of decorations, more garlands, wreaths, bows, ornaments for the tree, and a whole bunch of other shit. Now, which one was the mistletoe again? "So, you never did mention the point to all of this." He stated in an effort to stall, as he discreetly moved things around in the box, picking his brain to remember what mistletoe looked like.

"All of what?" She asked distractedly, eyes scanning the room. Chad and Kelsey were roughhousing instead of actually working, Kelsey wrapping a string of indoor lights around Chad's waist like a belt, and she sighed, but decided not to intervene, Christmas was about fun, after all. Carter was, as usual, being the leader, directing a group of Aquabase faculty to help set up the Christmas tree. Joel was flirting, unsuccessfully, with Ms. Fairweather, and Dana grinned, an idea forming in her mind, she _really_ needed that mistletoe now.

"You know, Christmas, what's all this shit about?" He _still _couldn't find that damn mistletoe.

She made a face at his language, and then sighed, "I don't really know how to explain it, Ry. Christmas didn't start out as all…" she waved one hand in the direction of the people scattering around, "this. It was originally supposed to celebrate Jesus' birthday, but it just became more and more elaborate and focused more on the people and gifts than anything else."

"Why's that?"

She focused sky blue eyes upon her brother, and gave him a sad look, "You really don't remember Christmas, Ry?"

He shifted uncomfortably, avoiding her gaze, "I remember a little, it's not like I had a whole bunch of holidays to celebrate," he quirked a grin, "mostly I just remember the presents and how you always threw a fit because you could never put the star on top of the tree."

She giggled lightly, "Well, I'm not doing it this year either."

"Why not?"

"Because you are."

He blinked in surprise, "Really? Me?"

"Yes, you."

He inhaled slowly, a small smile growing, as he ducked his head, grinning in triumph as he retrieved the mistletoe, holding up the sprig, "Guess what I found?"

She gave a girlish squeal that made him chuckle, and she leaned down, reaching out to grab the plant. He placed it in her hand and she wrapped her fingers around the mistletoe and his own fingers, squeezing lightly, "Thanks, Ry."

"No problem," he watched as she went to go hang it above the doorway and that anxious feeling returned, "You sure you don't want me to do it, short-stuff?"

"Nope, I can do it, Ryan, don't worry about me so much."

Well, that was kind of impossible. He couldn't _not_ worry about her, how could he just stop? It wasn't something he could turn off and on like a light switch. She was reaching up too high, she was leaning on her toes too much, oh fuck, she was going to fall, she was going to fall, and his heart was going to burst, oh god. And just when she had taped the mistletoe in place, she did just that, losing her balance and hurtling to the ground with a squeak. And then the ladder was clattering to the floor, and his feet moved just a few inches, and he was holding an armful of scared Dana. "Ryan…" She breathed out, clinging to him with trembling arms.

He closed his eyes, willing himself to calm down, he needed to calm the fuck down, or he would just freak her out, "I told you not to fucking _do _that, short-stuff. God…you scared the shit out of me."

"I'm sorry…" she mumbled into his shirt, ear over his chest, his heart beating rapidly, "I didn't mean to."

"I know you didn't, just…try not to give me any more heart attacks, okay?" He lowered her to her feet, but she stumbled forward and he steadied her.

She was glad nobody else had seemed to notice her fall, far too busy with their own tasks. She didn't want to feel anymore embarrassed than she already was, just because it was her brother didn't mean it wasn't annoying. "You okay?" He questioned softly, hands still gripped tight on her shoulders, unwilling to let her go if she wasn't alright.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he looked more than slightly unconvinced and she gave him a smile, "really, I'm okay, Ry, promise."

He exhaled slowly, forcing himself to let go of her shoulders, relieved when she didn't stumble, "Enough of this bullshit."

She looked up at him, blinking big blue eyes, "What are you talking about?"

"Enough decorating already."

"But, Ryan! I have so much left to do, I have to-"

"Everybody else can do that," he interrupted smoothly, "besides, the party's not 'till tomorrow night, there's no reason to stress over it now."

She bit her lower lip in contemplation. If she kept going, all she would do was worry him, which wasn't what she was out to accomplish, and besides, she didn't really need to implement her plan until the party started, anyway, so why freak him out for no reason? "Fine." She sighed in acquisition, and he grinned brightly.

"Good, now you can _really_ explain all this Christmas shit to me."

She groaned, maybe she should have thought about that decision a little harder.

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The party was in full swing, lights, laughter, drinks, food, music and just general merriment, like any good party should be. Everybody was decked in festive clothing of red and green, even the Rangers, which obviously wasn't hard to pull off with Carter and Joel, since they _were_ the Christmas Rangers, as Ryan had taken to calling them lately. Dana had forced Ryan into wearing some sort of strange red and green sweater that she had knit herself, which was really the only reason he was wearing it, especially since it wasn't even _cold_ in the Aquabase. Dana herself had a red and green striped scarf wrapped around her neck, and for some reason or another, it didn't even clash with her normal pink shirt. Kelsey and Chad had tried to get out of changing their normal color scheme, even if it was just for the party, but Dana was having none of that. Ryan felt sorriest for Kelsey though, the red and green looked terrible mixed with her regular yellow.

He let his eyes rest upon Dana, who was sitting on a couch, cup of punch in her hand, and he wouldn't say anything was out of the ordinary, except she never let her eyes stray from a certain couple for too long. He raised an eyebrow, before making his way over to her and plopping down onto the couch, "What's up?"

His voice startled her, making her nearly spill her punch all over the floor, "Thanks for scaring the crap out of me, Ryan."

"Anytime, Dana," he nudged her with his elbow, "so tell me, what are you up to?"

"What makes you think I'm up to anything?" She was all innocence and avoidance, and he snorted, "Exactly who do you think you're talking to again?"

"Really, Ry, I'm not up to anything," and maybe if he wasn't so attuned to her and her moods, he would have believed her, but she let her eyes stray from his back to Ms. Fairweather when she moved away from Joel.

"Not up to anything, hm?" He reached out, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her into him, "What are you planning, short-stuff? Playing matchmaker?"

She blushed lightly, sometimes it sort of sucked that her brother knew her so well, and only after a couple of months too, "It's just so perfect, Ry!" She burst out, eyes big and eager.

He raised an eyebrow, "What's so perfect?"

"Why'd you think I wanted the mistletoe so badly yesterday? I had to place it just right, and now I just need to get them _under_ it, no way will she wiggle her way out of it with all these people around."

"Okay, wait, who are we talking about, exactly?"

"Joel and Ms. Fairweather!" She gave him an irritated glance, "Don't you pay attention, Ryan?"

"Oh," he stated eloquently, before shaking his head, "wait one fucking second, since when do you care about people's personal relationships?" He let his eyes dart over to Joel, who was clearly deciding his next move of action, "Or lack thereof."

"I care when it concerns my friends being happy," she shrugged, "and they'd be happy with each other, no matter how much Ms. Fairweather denies it. She cares about him, you can tell."

"So why don't you just let them work it out on their own?"

"Because they're both too stubborn for their own good, they just need a little push in the right direction." She explained, and he snorted inwardly, they didn't just need a little _push_, they needed a goddamn _shove_.

"So, this plan of yours? What's the deal?"

She gave him a bright grin that warmed his heart like her smile always did, "I just need to get them underneath the doorway, and promptly mention the mistletoe."

He sighed, "I don't think I like your plan very much, short-stuff."

"Why not? It's a perfect plan." She defended herself.

He didn't have the heart to tell her about all the ways her "perfect plan" could go oh so very wrong, she looked too eager and happy, and he wasn't going to be the one to burst her bubble, "Alright, sis, I won't try and stop you, that's nearly impossible to do once you've got your mind set on something anyway," he sighed, "guess I'll just sit back and enjoy the show."

It was deceptively easy to put her plan into motion, to get them under _that_ particular doorway, all she had to do was make it look like Ms. Fairweather couldn't leave out of any door because they were all blocked. And of course, Joel couldn't resist "escorting her" back to her room. It was at that time that Dana piped up, "Joel, Ms. Fairweather, look up!"

They did exactly that, initiating a shit-eating grin from Joel and a groan from Ms. Fairweather, "Aren't we a little too old to be caught under the mistletoe?" She pursed her lips.

Dana shook her head, "You're never too old for that, and besides, it's bad luck if you don't do it, and bad luck is the last thing we need." Which was very true, their luck had actually been good for the past week, no monster attacks, no fires, no people to save, nothing.

Ryan hid his smirk behind his hand as rested his elbows on his legs, propping his chin up with his hands, as Carter, Kelsey and Chad showed up, "What's up, guys?" Kelsey chirped.

Ryan motioned for them to sit down and lean closer, as he spoke up in a whisper, "Joel and Ms. Fairweather."

Chad raised his eyebrows, "What about them? She's blowing him off again?"

"Nope…well, not yet anyway," Ryan shrugged, "Dana's got a plan."

Carter groaned, "Dana and her…plans generally tend not to work out."

Said woman turned and glared at her fellow teammate and he held out his hands, palm-up, in a gesture of peace, "I'm just saying."

She huffed, before turning her attention back to the couple, "Really, guys, you shouldn't push your luck."

Joel's grin widened, if that was even possible, "She's right, Ms. F, you don't want to be the cause of bad luck, do you?"

Ms. Fairweather sighed, "No, Joel, we wouldn't want that." Her tone was sweetly mocking as it generally tended to be when it came to Joel.

As Joel leaned forward to kiss his longtime crush, Dana was on the edge of the couch, practically squealing with joy. Finally, her friends could be happy, that was all she really wanted for Christmas. Her grin suddenly dropped off her face as Ms. Fairweather made a big show about dropping her glasses at the last minute, bending down to pick them up just as Joel's lips reached where hers had been not even five seconds earlier. "Oh, would you look at that? My lenses are scratched," she sighed, as Joel tried to look, but she yanked them away before he could look too closely, "I better go find my spare pair, I can't see a thing without them."

Joel sighed deeply, "Sorry, Joel." She stated, actually seeming to mean it.

"It's no big deal," he shrugged despondently.

Guilt crept along the edges of her mind, as her conscious kicked in and she leaned forward, pressing her lips to his in a chaste kiss of apology. Despite the fact her heart leapt at actually _kissing_ him, she kept it short and sweet, pulling back to smile at his dazed expression, "I'll see you later," and off she went, leaving Joel standing in the doorway with his mouth hanging open.

The other Rangers blinked from where they were perched on the couch, "I can't believe…" Chad trailed off, shaking his head.

"She kissed him…" Kelsey breathed out.

"And here I thought Ms. Fairweather was never going to pay Joel any attention." Carter mused.

"Well, there goes that theory." Ryan piped up.

Dana groaned, causing the others to look at her in concern, "Dana…" Carter started off cautiously and worried, "are you okay?"

She sighed, "My plan didn't work the way I wanted it to…"

Ryan laughed, hugging her to him, "Just because they're not making out in the halls doesn't mean it didn't work out, and hey, there's always next year."

She nodded into his shirt, a smile caused the corners of her lips to raise upwards, and something told Ryan that he'd regret his words eventually.

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Everything was in place, it was only a few hours until midnight, until it was Christmas and there was only one last thing to do. "So, are you ready?" Dana questioned her brother cheerfully.

He looked, and felt nervous, although he wasn't entirely sure why, "I don't know…" He was just putting the star on the top of the tree, for fuck's sake! It wasn't rocket science.

"Go ahead, son." Captain Mitchell's voice cut in, and the siblings looked up in surprise at their father.

"Daddy!" Dana squealed, throwing away all pretenses at formality and rank, why bother? It was Christmas, and he'd always be her dad before he was anything else. She ran to him, tossing her arms around his neck, "I thought you were busy looking over status reports and that's why you couldn't make it to the party?"

He chuckled, hugging his daughter tightly, "I finished early, did you really think I'd miss spending time with my kids?"

Dana beamed while Ryan just ducked his head, a little shyly. While he felt almost completely at ease around Dana, he still didn't know how to act around their father, and it irritated the hell out of him, "What? No hug for your dear, old dad?" The Captain teased good naturedly.

"Sorry…Dad," it was even hard to call him Dad sometimes, but he managed, like now, as he hesitantly stepped over to William and hugged him.

And because Dana was still attached to him, it became a group hug, leaving Ryan feeling completely at ease with the world, at least for the night, which was a very rare case. For Dana, everything felt complete now, she had her big brother back with her, the other half of her soul was restored, and they were mending fences, and it was just…_right_. Captain Mitchell had never been happier than he was at that moment. He had his son back, he had both of his children with him again, Dana, the spitting image of his deceased wife, and Ryan, looking like his father plus a mixture that was uniquely him. He still had so much more to make up for, but as long as his children were willing, so was he.

"Hey, not to interrupt the family bonding," Joel piped up and the Mitchells separated, "but isn't it about time to put the star up?"

And just like that, the nervousness returned full force for Ryan. Oh man, what the fuck was he so worried about? Like, _honestly, _it was a goddamn star made out of God-knows-what, and looked pretty, so what was the big deal? He had to be honest though, if only with himself, he didn't quite believe he deserved the honor. Most wouldn't consider putting the star on a Christmas tree an _honor_, but it was, he knew it was. He vaguely remembered times long past, of how their father had always put up the star because he was the only one that could reach it, and they were far too young, but he had promised his son that he would be the first person to do it, as soon as he was able. Dana told him she had never put the star on the tree, because it was always going to be his job, even when they believed he was dead, it would have felt like a betrayal to Dana, so she never tried to do it.

Dana squeezed his hand, giving him that smile of hers that seemed to be reserved especially for him, "Go ahead, Ry, you deserve it." He never figured out how she always managed to do that. Tell him exactly what he needed to hear like she was able to read his mind, or his heart.

It was probably her belief in him more than anything else that spurred him forward, as he took the star from Carter's waiting hands. He easily climbed the short step ladder, glad for his height, because he didn't have to climb far, Joel holding the ladder to keep it steady. He took a deep breath as if he were about to go into a big battle, before reaching up and placing the star on top of the tree perfectly. Then the lights were dimmed, and the tree was lit up, all red, green, blue, yellow, pink and white, sparkling beams of light, and it seemed like the entire Aquabase exploded with cheers as Ryan climbed down. Dana wrapped her arms around his waist, as William placed his hand on her shoulder, and the other Rangers crowded around them, and it was another group hug. "Merry Christmas!" Kelsey laughed happily.

"Merry Christmas, guys." Chad returned, grinning.

"Merry Christmas." Carter stated warmly.

"Definitely Merry Christmas." Joel damn near swooned, obviously remembering his kiss with Ms. Fairweather.

Dana shook her head, laughing at Joel's happiness, "Merry Christmas, everyone."

Ryan let a true, full grin cross his lips, "Merry Christmas."

The Captain let his gaze sweep over his team, his _family_, each and every one of them just like his own kids to him, and he couldn't help but be proud, they were nowhere close to being done fighting, but they had made it through so much, and he knew no matter what the enemy threw at them, they'd conquer it, "Merry Christmas, gang."

Ryan was the one to initiate the group hug this time, his heart filled with love for the people surrounding him. He was still amazing that he could ever feel anything towards them other than hate, despite all the shit Diabolico had put him through, he hadn't been able to break everything good inside of him, nobody could ever take his love for them away. And he still had a long ways to go before he was fully trusted by other people around the Aquabase, or before he'd feel fully at ease around everyone, but at that moment, just a few minutes after midnight on Christmas Day, he decided it didn't matter. He felt at home, _finally_, and what more could he ask for?

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End file.
